The topics of this blog are Armand-Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Duke of Richelieu, and the IDEAL CITY built on his command next to his magnificent CHÂTEAU on the borders of Touraine, Anjou and Poitou, in France.

Thursday 15 January 2015

Henri P's new friend in Madrid - Chantal


Inspired by this blog above, the old Abbé Henri Proust has made a short trip to the National Gallery in London to post about all those lovely canvases on subjects close to the passions of his new friend Chantal.
Chantal herself  is actually a daughter of the Cité Ideale and has taken her native affection for the seventeenth century to the city that was never far from the political concerns of Armand-Jean himself,
MADRID.
the Hapsburg coat-of-arms

Maybe she can find some imagery of cardinal duc's opposite number in Madrid
 in the court of Phillip IV, The Count of Olivares…..'el conde-duque'

Olivares by Velázquez

***

Meanwhile three royal courts; three court painters





Triple portrait produced for the Roman sculptor Bernini to inform the making of his marble bust of Armand Jean





by son-in-law Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo






"…..his eyes follow you round the room."

(Both boys were later killed in the English civil war, on the Royalist side)





An unusual un-faded canvas by Poussin showing his original coloration





1 comment:

Unknown said...

Un beau billet Abbé Henri Proust,
En effet le conde duque de Olivares vécut à la même époque que le cardinal de Richelieu.
Durant la guerre de 30 ans en 1635, le cardinal Richelieu déclara la guerre à l´Espagne dans les Pays-bas espagnols.
Le comte duc de Olivares était ministre du roi Felipe IV à cette époque.
Coïncidence, je suis en train de lire la biographie du conde duque de Olivares écrite par Gregorio Marañon.
Passionnée par le personnage du comte duc de Olivares et l´écriture, la documentation de l´auteur de cette biographie.
Bien cordialement.

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